The family Diadectidae and its bearing on the classification of reptiles / Everett Claire Olson --

v.11:no.1(1947)

Genus-group names of bees and supplemental family-group names / by Charles D. Michener.

no.1

An Atkinson-Gini family of social evaluation functions

We investigate the properties of a family of social evaluation functions and inequality indices which merge the features of the family of Atkinson (1970) and S-Gini (Donaldson and Weymark (1980, 1983), Yitzhaki (1983) and Kakwani (1980)) indices. Income inequality aversion is captured by decreasing marginal utilities, and aversion to rank inequality is captured by rank-dependent ethical weights, thus providing an ethically-flexible dual basis for the assessment of inequality and equity. These ocial evaluation functions can be interpreted as average utility corrected for the illfare of relative deprivation. They can alternatively be understood as averages of altruistic well-being in a population. They moreover have a simple graphical interpretation.

The dynamics of interfaces: Seven authors in search of encounters across levels of description of an event involving a mother, father, and baby

The interfaces between the intrapsychic, interactional, and intergenerational domains are a new frontier. As a pilot, we exposed ourselves to a complex but controllable situation as viewed by people whose main interest is in one of the three interfaces; we also fully integrated the subjects in the team, to learn about their subjective perspectives and to provide them with an enriching experience. We started with a brief "triadification" sequence (i.e., moving from a "two plus one" to a "three together" family organization). Considering this sequence as representing at a micro level many larger family transitions, we proceeded with a microanalytic interview, a psychodynamic investigation, and a family interview. As expected, larger patterns of correspondences are emerging. Central questions under debate are: What are the most appropriate units at each level of description and what are their articulations between these levels? What is the status of "triadification"? Les interfaces entre les domaines intrapsychiques, interactionnels et intergénérationnels représentent une nouvelle frontiére. A titre exploratoire, nous nous sommes exposés à une situation complexe mais contrǒlable ainsi que le voient ceux dont I'intérět principal se porte sur l'une de ces trois interfaces. Nous avons aussi entièrement intégré les sujets dans l'équipe, de facon à comprendre leur perspective subjective et à leur offrir une expérience enrichissante. Nous avons commencé avec une brève séquence de "triadification," c'est-à-dire passer d'une organisation familiale "deux plus un" à Ltne organisation familiale "trois (add sentenc)ensemble." Considérant cette séquence comme representative à un niveau microscopique de transitions familiales bien plus larges, nous avons procedé à l'entretien microanalytique, à une enquěte psychodynamique et à un entretien familial. Comme prévu, de grands patterns de correspondances émergent. Les questions essentielles sur lesquelles portent le débat sont: quelles les unités les plus appropiées à chaque niveau de description et quelles sont les articulations entre ces niveaux? Quel est le statut de la "triadification"?

Prévention des alcoolisations aiguës a l'adolescence: quel rôle pour le médecin de famille [Prevention of binge drinking in adolescents: do family doctors have a role to play?].

Binge drinking has nearly become the norm for young people and is thus worrying. Although alcohol use in males attracts more media attention, females are also frequently affected. A variety of preventive measures can be proposed: at the individual level by parents, peers and family doctors; at the school and community level, particularly to postpone age of first use and first episode of drunkenness; at the structural level through a policy restricting access to alcohol for young people and increasing its price. Family doctors can play an important role in identifying at risk users and individualising preventive messages to which these young people are exposed in other contexts.

Heritability, determinants and reference values of renal length: a family-based population study.

OBJECTIVES: In this population-based study, reference values were generated for renal length, and the heritability and factors associated with kidney length were assessed. METHODS: Anthropometric parameters and renal ultrasound measurements were assessed in randomly selected nuclear families of European ancestry (Switzerland). The adjusted narrow sense heritability of kidney size parameters was estimated by maximum likelihood assuming multivariate normality after power transformation. Gender-specific reference centiles were generated for renal length according to body height in the subset of non-diabetic non-obese participants with normal renal function. RESULTS: We included 374 men and 419 women (mean ± SD, age 47 ± 18 and 48 ± 17 years, BMI 26.2 ± 4 and 24.5 ± 5 kg/m(2), respectively) from 205 families. Renal length was 11.4 ± 0.8 cm in men and 10.7 ± 0.8 cm in women; there was no difference between right and left renal length. Body height, weight and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were positively associated with renal length, kidney function negatively, age quadratically, whereas gender and hypertension were not. The adjusted heritability estimates of renal length and volume were 47.3 ± 8.5 % and 45.5 ± 8.8 %, respectively (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The significant heritability of renal length and volume highlights the familial aggregation of this trait, independently of age and body size. Population-based references for renal length provide a useful guide for clinicians. KEY POINTS: • Renal length and volume are heritable traits, independent of age and size. • Based on a European population, gender-specific reference values/percentiles are provided for renal length. • Renal length correlates positively with body length and weight. • There was no difference between right and left renal lengths in this study. • This negates general teaching that the left kidney is larger and longer.

Structure-function relationships of the alpha1b-adrenergic receptor.

The alpha1b-adrenergic receptor (AR) is a member of the large superfamily of seven transmembrane domain (TMD) G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). Combining site-directed mutagenesis of the alpha1b-AR with computational simulations of receptor dynamics, we have explored the conformational changes underlying the process of receptor activation, i.e. the transition between the inactive and active states. Our findings suggest that the structural constraint stabilizing the alpha1b-AR in the inactive form is a network of H-bonding interactions amongst conserved residues forming a polar pocket and R143 of the DRY sequence at the end of TMDIII. We have recently reported that point mutations of D142, of the DRY sequence and of A293 in the distal portion of the third intracellular loop resulted in ligand-independent (constitutive) activation of the alpha1b-AR. These constitutively activating mutations could induce perturbations resulting in the shift of R143 out of the polar pocket. The main role of R143 may be to mediate receptor activation by triggering the exposure of several basic amino acids of the intracellular loops towards the G protein. Our investigation has been extended also to the biochemical events involved in the desensitization process of alpha1b-AR. Our results indicate that immediately following agonist-induced activation, the alpha1b-AR can undergo rapid agonist-induced phosphorylation and desensitization. Different members of the G protein coupled receptor kinase family can play a role in agonist-induced regulation of the alpha1b-AR. In addition, constitutively active alpha1b-AR mutants display different phosphorylation and internalization features. The future goal is to further elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the complex equilibrium between activation and inactivation of the alpha1b-AR and its regulation by pharmacological substances. These findings can help to elucidate the mechanism of action of various agents displaying properties of agonists or inverse agonists at the adrenergic system.